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  <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
  <ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">An introduction to the ipaddress module</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#creating-address-network-interface-objects">Creating Address/Network/Interface objects</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#a-note-on-ip-versions">A Note on IP Versions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#ip-host-addresses">IP Host Addresses</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#defining-networks">Defining Networks</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#host-interfaces">Host Interfaces</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#inspecting-address-network-interface-objects">Inspecting Address/Network/Interface Objects</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#networks-as-lists-of-addresses">Networks as lists of Addresses</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#comparisons">Comparisons</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#using-ip-addresses-with-other-modules">Using IP Addresses with other modules</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#getting-more-detail-when-instance-creation-fails">Getting more detail when instance creation fails</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

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  <div class="section" id="an-introduction-to-the-ipaddress-module">
<span id="ipaddress-howto"></span><h1>An introduction to the ipaddress module<a class="headerlink" href="#an-introduction-to-the-ipaddress-module" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<dl class="field-list simple">
<dt class="field-odd">author</dt>
<dd class="field-odd"><p>Peter Moody</p>
</dd>
<dt class="field-even">author</dt>
<dd class="field-even"><p>Nick Coghlan</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<div class="topic">
<p class="topic-title">Overview</p>
<p>This document aims to provide a gentle introduction to the
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a> module. It is aimed primarily at users that aren’t
already familiar with IP networking terminology, but may also be useful
to network engineers wanting an overview of how <a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a>
represents IP network addressing concepts.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="creating-address-network-interface-objects">
<h2>Creating Address/Network/Interface objects<a class="headerlink" href="#creating-address-network-interface-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Since <a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a> is a module for inspecting and manipulating IP addresses,
the first thing you’ll want to do is create some objects.  You can use
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a> to create objects from strings and integers.</p>
<div class="section" id="a-note-on-ip-versions">
<h3>A Note on IP Versions<a class="headerlink" href="#a-note-on-ip-versions" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>For readers that aren’t particularly familiar with IP addressing, it’s
important to know that the Internet Protocol is currently in the process
of moving from version 4 of the protocol to version 6. This transition is
occurring largely because version 4 of the protocol doesn’t provide enough
addresses to handle the needs of the whole world, especially given the
increasing number of devices with direct connections to the internet.</p>
<p>Explaining the details of the differences between the two versions of the
protocol is beyond the scope of this introduction, but readers need to at
least be aware that these two versions exist, and it will sometimes be
necessary to force the use of one version or the other.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="ip-host-addresses">
<h3>IP Host Addresses<a class="headerlink" href="#ip-host-addresses" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Addresses, often referred to as “host addresses” are the most basic unit
when working with IP addressing. The simplest way to create addresses is
to use the <a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#ipaddress.ip_address" title="ipaddress.ip_address"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress.ip_address()</span></code></a> factory function, which automatically
determines whether to create an IPv4 or IPv6 address based on the passed in
value:</p>
<div class="doctest highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:DB8::1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;2001:db8::1&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Addresses can also be created directly from integers. Values that will
fit within 32 bits are assumed to be IPv4 addresses:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">3221225985</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">42540766411282592856903984951653826561</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;2001:db8::1&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>To force the use of IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, the relevant classes can be
invoked directly. This is particularly useful to force creation of IPv6
addresses for small integers:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;0.0.0.1&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">IPv4Address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;0.0.0.1&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">IPv6Address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;::1&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="defining-networks">
<h3>Defining Networks<a class="headerlink" href="#defining-networks" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>Host addresses are usually grouped together into IP networks, so
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a> provides a way to create, inspect and manipulate network
definitions. IP network objects are constructed from strings that define the
range of host addresses that are part of that network. The simplest form
for that information is a “network address/network prefix” pair, where the
prefix defines the number of leading bits that are compared to determine
whether or not an address is part of the network and the network address
defines the expected value of those bits.</p>
<p>As for addresses, a factory function is provided that determines the correct
IP version automatically:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Network(&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:db8::0/96&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Network(&#39;2001:db8::/96&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Network objects cannot have any host bits set.  The practical effect of this
is that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">192.0.2.1/24</span></code> does not describe a network.  Such definitions are
referred to as interface objects since the ip-on-a-network notation is
commonly used to describe network interfaces of a computer on a given network
and are described further in the next section.</p>
<p>By default, attempting to create a network object with host bits set will
result in <a class="reference internal" href="../library/exceptions.html#ValueError" title="ValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></code></a> being raised. To request that the
additional bits instead be coerced to zero, the flag <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">strict=False</span></code> can
be passed to the constructor:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gt">Traceback (most recent call last):</span>
   <span class="c">...</span>
<span class="gr">ValueError</span>: <span class="n">192.0.2.1/24 has host bits set</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1/24&#39;</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">strict</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="kc">False</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Network(&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>While the string form offers significantly more flexibility, networks can
also be defined with integers, just like host addresses. In this case, the
network is considered to contain only the single address identified by the
integer, so the network prefix includes the entire network address:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">3221225984</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Network(&#39;192.0.2.0/32&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">42540766411282592856903984951653826560</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Network(&#39;2001:db8::/128&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>As with addresses, creation of a particular kind of network can be forced
by calling the class constructor directly instead of using the factory
function.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="host-interfaces">
<h3>Host Interfaces<a class="headerlink" href="#host-interfaces" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<p>As mentioned just above, if you need to describe an address on a particular
network, neither the address nor the network classes are sufficient.
Notation like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">192.0.2.1/24</span></code> is commonly used by network engineers and the
people who write tools for firewalls and routers as shorthand for “the host
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">192.0.2.1</span></code> on the network <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">192.0.2.0/24</span></code>”, Accordingly, <a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a>
provides a set of hybrid classes that associate an address with a particular
network. The interface for creation is identical to that for defining network
objects, except that the address portion isn’t constrained to being a network
address.</p>
<div class="doctest highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_interface</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Interface(&#39;192.0.2.1/24&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_interface</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:db8::1/96&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Interface(&#39;2001:db8::1/96&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Integer inputs are accepted (as with networks), and use of a particular IP
version can be forced by calling the relevant constructor directly.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="inspecting-address-network-interface-objects">
<h2>Inspecting Address/Network/Interface Objects<a class="headerlink" href="#inspecting-address-network-interface-objects" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>You’ve gone to the trouble of creating an IPv(4|6)(Address|Network|Interface)
object, so you probably want to get information about it.  <a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a>
tries to make doing this easy and intuitive.</p>
<p>Extracting the IP version:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr6</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:db8::1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">version</span>
<span class="go">6</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr4</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">version</span>
<span class="go">4</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Obtaining the network from an interface:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">host4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_interface</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">host4</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">network</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Network(&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">host6</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_interface</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:db8::1/96&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">host6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">network</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Network(&#39;2001:db8::/96&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Finding out how many individual addresses are in a network:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">num_addresses</span>
<span class="go">256</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:db8::0/96&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">num_addresses</span>
<span class="go">4294967296</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Iterating through the “usable” addresses on a network:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">x</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">net4</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">hosts</span><span class="p">():</span>
<span class="gp">... </span>    <span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">x</span><span class="p">)</span>  
<span class="go">192.0.2.1</span>
<span class="go">192.0.2.2</span>
<span class="go">192.0.2.3</span>
<span class="go">192.0.2.4</span>
<span class="gp">...</span>
<span class="go">192.0.2.252</span>
<span class="go">192.0.2.253</span>
<span class="go">192.0.2.254</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Obtaining the netmask (i.e. set bits corresponding to the network prefix) or
the hostmask (any bits that are not part of the netmask):</p>
<div class="doctest highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">netmask</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;255.255.255.0&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">hostmask</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;0.0.0.255&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;2001:db8::0/96&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">netmask</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">hostmask</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;::ffff:ffff&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Exploding or compressing the address:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">exploded</span>
<span class="go">&#39;2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001&#39;</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">compressed</span>
<span class="go">&#39;2001:db8::1&#39;</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">exploded</span>
<span class="go">&#39;2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000/96&#39;</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">compressed</span>
<span class="go">&#39;2001:db8::/96&#39;</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>While IPv4 doesn’t support explosion or compression, the associated objects
still provide the relevant properties so that version neutral code can
easily ensure the most concise or most verbose form is used for IPv6
addresses while still correctly handling IPv4 addresses.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="networks-as-lists-of-addresses">
<h2>Networks as lists of Addresses<a class="headerlink" href="#networks-as-lists-of-addresses" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>It’s sometimes useful to treat networks as lists.  This means it is possible
to index them like this:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net4</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">IPv4Address(&#39;192.0.2.255&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;2001:db8::1&#39;)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">net6</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">IPv6Address(&#39;2001:db8::ffff:ffff&#39;)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>It also means that network objects lend themselves to using the list
membership test syntax like this:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">address</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">network</span><span class="p">:</span>
    <span class="c1"># do something</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Containment testing is done efficiently based on the network prefix:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr4</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.0/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">True</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr4</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.3.0/24&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">False</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="comparisons">
<h2>Comparisons<a class="headerlink" href="#comparisons" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p><a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#module-ipaddress" title="ipaddress: IPv4/IPv6 manipulation library."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress</span></code></a> provides some simple, hopefully intuitive ways to compare
objects, where it makes sense:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">&lt;</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.2&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">True</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>A <a class="reference internal" href="../library/exceptions.html#TypeError" title="TypeError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></code></a> exception is raised if you try to compare objects of
different versions or different types.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="using-ip-addresses-with-other-modules">
<h2>Using IP Addresses with other modules<a class="headerlink" href="#using-ip-addresses-with-other-modules" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Other modules that use IP addresses (such as <a class="reference internal" href="../library/socket.html#module-socket" title="socket: Low-level networking interface."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">socket</span></code></a>) usually won’t
accept objects from this module directly. Instead, they must be coerced to
an integer or string that the other module will accept:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">addr4</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">str</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">addr4</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">&#39;192.0.2.1&#39;</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">int</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">addr4</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">3221225985</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="getting-more-detail-when-instance-creation-fails">
<h2>Getting more detail when instance creation fails<a class="headerlink" href="#getting-more-detail-when-instance-creation-fails" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>When creating address/network/interface objects using the version-agnostic
factory functions, any errors will be reported as <a class="reference internal" href="../library/exceptions.html#ValueError" title="ValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></code></a> with
a generic error message that simply says the passed in value was not
recognized as an object of that type. The lack of a specific error is
because it’s necessary to know whether the value is <em>supposed</em> to be IPv4
or IPv6 in order to provide more detail on why it has been rejected.</p>
<p>To support use cases where it is useful to have access to this additional
detail, the individual class constructors actually raise the
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/exceptions.html#ValueError" title="ValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></code></a> subclasses <a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#ipaddress.AddressValueError" title="ipaddress.AddressValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress.AddressValueError</span></code></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/ipaddress.html#ipaddress.NetmaskValueError" title="ipaddress.NetmaskValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ipaddress.NetmaskValueError</span></code></a> to indicate exactly which part of
the definition failed to parse correctly.</p>
<p>The error messages are significantly more detailed when using the
class constructors directly. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;192.168.0.256&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gt">Traceback (most recent call last):</span>
  <span class="c">...</span>
<span class="gr">ValueError</span>: <span class="n">&#39;192.168.0.256&#39; does not appear to be an IPv4 or IPv6 address</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">IPv4Address</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;192.168.0.256&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gt">Traceback (most recent call last):</span>
  <span class="c">...</span>
<span class="gr">ipaddress.AddressValueError</span>: <span class="n">Octet 256 (&gt; 255) not permitted in &#39;192.168.0.256&#39;</span>

<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ip_network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;192.168.0.1/64&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gt">Traceback (most recent call last):</span>
  <span class="c">...</span>
<span class="gr">ValueError</span>: <span class="n">&#39;192.168.0.1/64&#39; does not appear to be an IPv4 or IPv6 network</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">IPv4Network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;192.168.0.1/64&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gt">Traceback (most recent call last):</span>
  <span class="c">...</span>
<span class="gr">ipaddress.NetmaskValueError</span>: <span class="n">&#39;64&#39; is not a valid netmask</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>However, both of the module specific exceptions have <a class="reference internal" href="../library/exceptions.html#ValueError" title="ValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></code></a> as their
parent class, so if you’re not concerned with the particular type of error,
you can still write code like the following:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">try</span><span class="p">:</span>
    <span class="n">network</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">ipaddress</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">IPv4Network</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">address</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="k">except</span> <span class="ne">ValueError</span><span class="p">:</span>
    <span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;address/netmask is invalid for IPv4:&#39;</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">address</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


          </div>
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      <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
        <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
  <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
  <ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">An introduction to the ipaddress module</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#creating-address-network-interface-objects">Creating Address/Network/Interface objects</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#a-note-on-ip-versions">A Note on IP Versions</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#ip-host-addresses">IP Host Addresses</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#defining-networks">Defining Networks</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#host-interfaces">Host Interfaces</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#inspecting-address-network-interface-objects">Inspecting Address/Network/Interface Objects</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#networks-as-lists-of-addresses">Networks as lists of Addresses</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#comparisons">Comparisons</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#using-ip-addresses-with-other-modules">Using IP Addresses with other modules</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#getting-more-detail-when-instance-creation-fails">Getting more detail when instance creation fails</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

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